a. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates to a hair accessory, a method of making such a hair accessory, a method of styling hair using such a hair accessory, and a method of instructing others to style hair using such a method of styling hair. More particularly, the instant invention relates to a hair accessory containing a ductile metallic member continuously formed or generally configured with overlapping or abutting ends to form an opening for receiving a bundle of hair and to retain the hair in the bundle.
b. Background Art
Numerous known devices exist for wrapping about a bundle of human hair to retain the hair in a bundle. One such example is the elastic band which is commonly used to encircle a bundle of hair to retain it in the bundle and away from the wearer's eyes. Such a device, although inexpensive, lacks any capability for attaching decorative strips thereto for ornamental purposes and for disguising the appearance of the elastic band, which, for aesthetic purposes, is undesirable.
Other devices, such as a two-element hair clip device hinged together at one end, with provision for releasably locking the elements together at the other end, is known. Such devices offer the advantage of being able to provide a surface to which a decorative member may be attached for ornamental purposes. However, such devices provide only a single mode or manner in which they may be attached to the hair, and may be relatively expensive to manufacture depending on the size of the hair clip and complexity of the hinge mechanism.
Ductile metallic members located in sheet-like backing members for wrapping about plastic bags are also known. The common twist-tie for use in wrapping, and twisting to ensure locking, about the mouth of polyurethane bags is one such common household example. The ductile metallic members contained therein are circular ductile wire elements, and usually of a ferrous metal to ensure sufficient tensile strength when stresses are induced through twisting of such twist-tie. It is the common practice in the manufacture of such twist-tie devices to sandwich the ductile wire element between two sheet-like strips of treated paper-like material, primarily to allow such twist-tie members to be easily grasped and separated from one another.
Disadvantages in applying such twist-tie devices for use as an ornamental hair wrap as contemplated in the present invention include the fact that such devices invariably are of a construction wherein a silhouette of the circular ductile wire element protrudes through the surface of the paper-like backing material, creating a cylindrical raised outline throughout the length of the twist-tie. This configuration, in addition to being aesthetically unpleasing when used as a hair wrap, further deprives the twist-tie device of a uniform flat surface to which a decorative ornamental strip or cover member may easily be applied and positively retained thereon despite flexure and coiling of the hair wrap device.
In addition, the sheet-like backing member employed in twist-ties is of paper-like material, or a material lacking any resistance to flexure. Accordingly, during use, the backing member would frequently become folded over along an axis parallel to the circular ductile wire element, and may even become folded unintentionally about the circular wire element, since the paper-like backing member was totally lacking in any resistance to flexure. Although this occurrence is relatively unimportant where the twist-tie is used as a bag closure means, and is even desirable to allow the twist-tie member to be twisted about its ends to allow locking of the twist-tie, it is most clearly undesirable for use in a hair wrap device for two reasons.
First, the hair wrap device of the present invention is not desired to be twisted about its ends to retain hair in a bundle, but rather is adapted to be crimped about a bundle of hair. Accordingly, the surface area of backing member contacting the hair is desired to be as great as possible. Any folding of the backing member would thus decrease the surface area of the backing member contacting the bundle of hair.
Second, any folding over of the backing member about the ductile metallic element would also cause folding over of any flexible decorative strip member affixed thereto and accordingly a portion thereof would become hidden from view. This would result in loss of the aesthetic qualities of a decorative hair wrap device, since the decorative strip would appear folded-over along portions of the hair wrap device.
Still further devices, such as strip open-ended, resilient, ductile metallic members for coiling about a bundle of hair are known. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,110, for example, a hair wrap device is disclosed for coiling about a bundle of hair. The hair wrap device disclosed in the '110 patent includes a resilient ductile metallic member having a sufficient resistance to bending so that the hair wrap device, when coiled about a bundle of hair, retains the hair in the bundle. The resilient ductile metallic member is substantially flat and located between flat folded-over portions of a backing member. The folded-over portions of the backing member and the resilient ductile metallic member are of substantially equal thickness so that they together form a flat surface, to which a thin, flexible, decorative cover member is attached covering and hiding the resilient ductile metallic member from view.